Enquirer's No. 2 editor out as staffers bolt amidst Gannett-ordered reorganization

 

More than a dozen newsroom staffers at the Cincinnati Enquirer, including its No. 2 editor, are departing as the region's largest local media company embarks on the biggest shakeup in its history.

 

Earlier this month, editor Carolyn Washburn announced major changes would be coming as the Enquirer tried to devote fewer resources toward the production of its print products and more toward its expanding digital ones. Most staffers are being required to reapply for positions with new titles and new responsibilities that Washburn describes as "fundamentally new jobs."

 

The reorganization – ordered up by the Enquirer's parent company, Gannett Co., in its markets across the United States – has unleashed the voluntary exodus of at least one out of every six newsroom staffers as veteran journalists with hundreds of years of experience opt to walk instead of re-applying.

 

"Readers are going to be shocked," said one newsroom employee.

Boy, I sure am excited for more photo galleries, subpar 'journalism', and more news from USA Today!

 

YAY! HERE, TAKE MY MONEY!

 

 

They keep pretending that there were so many "talented" people there and still are.  Who exactly?  Where are all of these dynamite stories?  Can anyone recall a knockout photograph in the least 10 years other than that rainbow over the river?

^They've done some good in-depth stories like the one about turning 14 in many urban neighborhoods in Cincinnati or the one about immigrant families in the area. As a whole, their stories tend to lack important details and be poorly edited, though.

On most issues, I find the Business Courier's stories to be more timely, better written and edited, and more balanced. I have no desire the get a physical paper, so the fact that the Business Courier only prints once a week is irrelevant to me... I read new stories online throughout the day.

 

The Enquirer has certainly beefed up their coverage of urban issues and transportation, and their editorial board has gotten a lot more sane in the last year. However, the fact that they exclusively endorse conservative, usually Republican candidates tells me that they're still getting marching orders from higher up. They endorse who they're told to endorse (which sometime results in an awkward non-endorsement, like the one of Cranley last year).

Should be interesting to see what comes of the new emphasis on covering urban design.

Tom Whalen of Covington, Kentucky wrote at the Business Courier in the comments:

 

"I might not use the word "extreme," but here are the Enquirer endorsements for President, US Senate, Congress or Governor since 2003:

 

DEMOCRATS:

John Cranley for OH-01 ('06)

Steve Beshear for KY-Gov ('07)

Steve Beshear for KY-Gov ('11)

Sherrod Brown for OH-Sen ('12)

 

REPUBLICANS:

Ernie Fletcher for KY-Gov ('03)

George W Bush for Pres ('04)

George Voinovich for OH-Sen ('04)

Jim Bunning for KY-Sen ('04)

Steve Chabot for OH-01 ('04)

Rob Portman for OH-02 ('04)

Mike Turner for OH-03 ('04)

John Boehner for OH-08 ('04)

Geoff Davis for KY-04 ('04)

Jean Schmidt for OH-02 ('05)

Ken Blackwell for OH-Gov ('06)

Mike DeWine for OH-Sen ('06)

Jean Schmidt for OH-02 ('06)

Mike Turner for OH-03 ('06)

John Boehner for OH-08 ('06)

Geoff Davis for KY-04 ('06)

John McCain for Pres ('08)

Mitch McConnell for KY-Sen ('08)

Steve Chabot for OH-01 ('08)

Jean Schmidt for OH-02 ('08)

Mike Turner for OH-03 ('08)

John Boehner for OH-08 ('08)

Geoff Davis for KY-04 ('08)

John Kasich for OH-Gov ('10)

Rob Portman for OH-Sen ('10)

Rand Paul for KY-Sen ('10)

Steve Chabot for OH-01 ('10)

Jean Schmidt for OH-02 ('10)

John Boehner for OH-08 ('10)

Geoff Davis for KY-04 ('10)

Thomas Massie for KY-04 ('12)

Mitt Romney for Pres ('12)

John Kasich for OH-Gov ('14)

Mitch McConnell for KY-Sen ('14)"

Wow. I've been curious to see a history of their endorsements.

 

It should be noticed that Sherrod Brown ran against professional sleazeball Josh Mandel (easy choice no matter how partisan you are).

 

Both Steve Beshear elections were landslide victories.

 

The only stand they took to support a Democrat was choosing Cranley over Chabot in 2006.

Two more big names leaving the Cincinnati Enquirer

 

Two more long-time writers at the Cincinnati Enquirer have added their names to increasingly lengthy list of staffers opting not to reapply for jobs as the region's largest media organization embarks on major changes.

 

John Kiesewetter, best known as the Enquirer's radio and television writer, and Cliff Radel, a long-time reporter and columnist, are both departing, according to newsroom sources.

 

Radel could not be reached for comment. Kiesewetter declined to comment.

Kiesewetter had the easiest job in the world and he wasn't even any good at it. 

Radel's human-interest stories are very popular with the old people in my extended family, and they are the only people I know who still have Enquirer hard-copy subscriptions.  Probably a mistake dumping him.

Probably a mistake dumping him.

 

He quit. Ultimately it was the Enquirer's fault for making everyone reapply for their jobs and stuff, but he wasn't "dumped" in the sense of being fired.

Kiesewetter had the easiest job in the world and he wasn't even any good at it. 

 

His blog focused on exciting topics like, "Cammy Dierking replacing Kit Andrews on the 11 p.m. news."

 

A few years ago, some national TV show came to Cincinnati and did a segment on some local businesses in OTR. I alerted Kiesewetter to this several times. He never covered it.

Somehow the Tracie Hunter saga is still ongoing, despite her being found guilty and 2 weeks left until her sentencing - and the Enquirer seems to be loving every minute of it. The latest news, aside from Tracie's lawyer convincing three jurors to try to undo their verdict, is that another juror may have been sexually abused as a child and shouldn't have been allowed to serve:

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/courts/2014/11/17/tracie-hunter-forewoman-lied-i-want-new-trial/19176067/

 

I wonder how many private investigators it took to find that out?

Somehow the Tracie Hunter saga is still ongoing, despite her being found guilty and 2 weeks left until her sentencing - and the Enquirer seems to be loving every minute of it. The latest news, aside from Tracie's lawyer convincing three jurors to try to undo their verdict, is that another juror may have been sexually abused as a child and shouldn't have been allowed to serve:

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/courts/2014/11/17/tracie-hunter-forewoman-lied-i-want-new-trial/19176067/

 

I wonder how many private investigators it took to find that out?

 

A lot of animosity on both sides goes back to the original issue over her election, which spent 1-2 years in the courts.  My roommate worked on that case so at this point I'm way past the point to where I can handle more Tracy Hunter-related news. 

 

The Enquirer is really good at choosing flattering pictures to post online.

 

She has better hair.

Enquirer runs self-congratulatory story, then posts photo of its ceiling:

 

Washburn is out:

 

"Executive editor Carolyn Washburn’s last day at @Enquirer was Wednesday, publisher announces. We thank her for 4 years serving her hometown."

 

 

Aww. The Herbert Hoover of the Enquirer's editorial legacy.

This Enquirer article starts with the following sentence: "The Drop Inn Center will be opening a brand new homeless facility June 5 in Over-the-Rhine." However, this new shelter is located in Mt. Auburn, not Over-the-Rhine. (The title of the article was changed to "New homeless shelter for women to open near OTR" but the article text has not yet been updated.)

 

It goes on to mention "five new and upgraded shelters across Downtown and Over-the-Rhine." The problem? None of them are located in Over-the-Rhine or the Central Business District. Two are located in Queensgate, so maybe they're stretching the definition of "downtown" a little bit. But the vast majority of them are in Uptown.

 

Why does every local media outlet have so much trouble figuring out where neighborhood boundaries are located?

I think they have about 5 new writers who just moved here from OSU in the last few months. 

They have changed the headline again (to "New homeless shelter for women opens June 5") and removed all references to Downtown and Over-the-Rhine from the article. However, they did not catch a typo ("63,000-squre-foot facility") and for some reason, my web browser is displaying a red squiggle underneath the misspelled word on the Enquirer's site.

I think very few people actually consider The Enquirer to be a legitimate news source for Cincinnati anymore.  It's really just a sensationalist tabloid that gets a lot of purchases just because it has coupons and/or because it appeals to the National Enquirer crowd.

I think very few people actually consider The Enquirer to be a legitimate news source for Cincinnati anymore.  It's really just a sensationalist tabloid that gets a lot of purchases just because it has coupons and/or because it appeals to the National Enquirer crowd.

 

Nobody under age 40~ is getting any news from it or talk radio anymore.  Pretty much everyone under 40 is getting what news they do consume through social media, and since it's rude to post a bunch of negative news, they aren't getting much if any negative news about the city. 

 

I'm definitely still getting news from the Enquirer. I don't pay to read it and I don't get the hard copy, but I still get news from it. To say I didn't would be dishonest. Yes they do a lot of fear mongering and you can tell the tone leans toward the suburbs, but I still get news from them.

The Enquirer is blocked here at work and I almost never go to their site in the evenings and weekends.  The Business Courier has much more accurate, in-depth articles that are much less sensationalist than The Enquirer.  Can anyone give me an example of some good reporting that came out of The Enquirer that couldn't be found elsewhere done better?

The Enquirer is blocked here at work and I almost never go to their site in the evenings and weekends.  The Business Courier has much more accurate, in-depth articles that are much less sensationalist than The Enquirer.  Can anyone give me an example of some good reporting that came out of The Enquirer that couldn't be found elsewhere done better?

 

Part of the problem during the Washburn era is that the Enquirer was always congratulating itself when the paper had zero distinguished history in investigative reporting, aside from the Chiquita incident, and it's tough to think of a single distinct story since that. 

 

The only thing the Enquirer has going for it is that it's usually first to have a story up. Sometimes the local TV stations beat them to it, but their websites are so poorly designed that I refuse to even visit them most of the time.

Local TV news is also aimed at a non-tech savvy audience so it's no real surprise that their websites are crappy.

It's really just a sensationalist tabloid that gets a lot of purchases just because it has coupons and/or because it appeals to the National Enquirer crowd.

 

 

Comments on this story about the common sense move to charge valet companies for parking spots they use are completely bizarre. So angry, confused and completely incoherent.

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2015/05/15/city-to-valet-companies-no-more-free-ride/27388537/

The Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards loves the online version of USA Today...

 

Cincinnati.com named best news website in Ohio

"Cincinnati.com was the clear winner in this category," the judges wrote. "The tile design is very efficient and clean, and the use of photos is graphically attractive. The side labels make it easy to navigate the categories. The entire page, not just the top half, is attractive."

 

  :roll:

Woooooooooow...seriously???

It looks like ALL commenting on all Cincinnati.com articles has been closed, emptied and disabled. Every article I find has a grey empty quote bubble.

 

Not a big loss - they netcopped entries to death, it was hardly a forum for free expression, and 3/4 of the posts were from idiots or lunatics. But there isn't even a pretense now that discussion is permitted.

 

Maybe I'm  mistaken but I literally can't find a comment in any news story on the site.

 

And I just checked USA Today's website. Same thing. Looks like Gannett newspapers have suspended comments.

 

Interesting.

The Business Courier has also removed commenting with their latest redesign. They have said that they plan to add it back at some point, though.

It looks like ALL commenting on all Cincinnati.com articles has been closed, emptied and disabled. Every article I find has a grey empty quote bubble.

 

Not a big loss - they netcopped entries to death, it was hardly a forum for free expression, and 3/4 of the posts were from idiots or lunatics. But there isn't even a pretense now that discussion is permitted.

 

Maybe I'm  mistaken but I literally can't find a comment in any news story on the site.

 

And I just checked USA Today's website. Same thing. Looks like Gannett newspapers have suspended comments.

 

Interesting.

 

There are comments. You have to click on the grey empty quote bubble to see. Before it did show the # of comments in quote.

 

Try:

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/06/19/officer-down-madisonville/28974101/

There are comments. You have to click on the grey empty quote bubble to see. Before it did show the # of comments in quote.

 

D'OH! You're right.

 

That's a change that seriously detracts from engagement. I thought commenting was disabled.

A new Gannett now serves the community

Rick Green is the president and publisher of The Enquirer.

 

A new Gannett now serves the community

Rick Green is the president and publisher of The Enquirer.

 

 

I like that his Twitter handle is @OhioRAG. His middle initial must be "A" but the term "Rag" sure does sum up his new employer. 

Also, every story he sited when talking about how important the paper is was about someone dying or a neighborhood falling apart. Not a single positive (Lauren Hill, Leah Still, etc) or informative (immigrant stories, being 15 in Cincinnati, etc) piece was mentioned. Shows you where their priorities are.

 

We must be there when breaking news erupts, such as when the Hopple Street bridge collapsed in January, when a firefighter died in the line of duty in March and when a police officer was fatally ambushed earlier this month. You can count on our reporters, photographers and videographers to provide immediacy, accuracy, depth and perspective.

 

We must be there when important community challenges surface, such as a regional heroin epidemic and the stinging poverty confronting our children in such places as Millvale.

I stopped reading at "cul-de-sac."

 

The new boss is same as the old boss.

A new Gannett now serves the community

Rick Green is the president and publisher of The Enquirer.

 

 

I like that his Twitter handle is @OhioRAG. His middle initial must be "A" but the term "Rag" sure does sum up his new employer. 

 

Ha!  Who's asleep at the wheel there?  No way anyone with an association with a media pub should have that associated with them.  It's a ready-made punchline and I can't believe nobody caught that.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/07/07/all-star-game-traffic-parking-plan/29824999/

 

Once again the local rag manages to spend a lot of time saying absolutely nothing, and rather poorly at that. For a paper that is patently pro-republican, it curiously expects the city to micromanage its citizens' lives: the example here being the hand-holding over how to park downtown with so many visitors in town. Of course, there is an expectation that everyone will drive to downtown; metro is only tangentially mentioned for the free shuttle it is running between Fountain square and Washington Park. (hey enquirer, remember when you complained that the streetcar would be barely faster than walking?)

 

An honest assessment of the expected traffic snarl would be this: Hey Cincinnati, there are going to be a lot of people in the downtown area for the next week, especially over the weekend. If you're looking for the best way to get down and enjoy the events, we suggest taking the bus. Use google maps to plot your route. The app, Transit, is also great for giving live updates on when the bus will arrive at a particular stop. Using the bus will save you parking money (which the law of supply and demand says will skyrocket in cost), and save you time because you won't have to look for a spot. Plus you won't have to worry about drinking and driving. If you insist on driving -- which we really don't recommend -- then get there early, and consider parking a couple blocks from your destination. Otherwise, put up with the extreme hassle and don't say we didn't tell you so.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/07/07/all-star-game-traffic-parking-plan/29824999/

 

Once again the local rag manages to spend a lot of time saying absolutely nothing, and rather poorly at that. For a paper that is patently pro-republican, it curiously expects the city to micromanage its citizens' lives: the example here being the hand-holding over how to park downtown with so many visitors in town. Of course, there is an expectation that everyone will drive to downtown; metro is only tangentially mentioned for the free shuttle it is running between Fountain square and Washington Park. (hey enquirer, remember when you complained that the streetcar would be barely faster than walking?)

 

An honest assessment of the expected traffic snarl would be this: Hey Cincinnati, there are going to be a lot of people in the downtown area for the next week, especially over the weekend. If you're looking for the best way to get down and enjoy the events, we suggest taking the bus. Use google maps to plot your route. The app, Transit, is also great for giving live updates on when the bus will arrive at a particular stop. Using the bus will save you parking money (which the law of supply and demand says will skyrocket in cost), and save you time because you won't have to look for a spot. Plus you won't have to worry about drinking and driving. If you insist on driving -- which we really don't recommend -- then get there early, and consider parking a couple blocks from your destination. Otherwise, put up with the extreme hassle and don't say we didn't tell you so.

 

Williams has one of the worst writing styles of anyone in Cincinnati media; it's a textbook example of yellow journalism, which unfortunately is exactly what the Enquirer wants. His article makes it seem like all hell is going to break loose in downtown Cincinnati, despite the fact that there is already a plan and it will be announced tomorrow morning. Even the headline "Where's the ASG traffic, parking plan?" can easily be answered - on the desks of city officials until they announce it tomorrow.  If I still gave this particular author the benefit of the doubt I'd assume he started writing the article thinking there was no plan at all, and then later found out there was a plan in place, but didn't bother to change anything. Unfortunately I know that's not the case.

 

That's aside from your point that it's really not that big of a deal. If you can't figure out how to avoid traffic and find a place to park, you probably shouldn't be behind the wheel of a vehicle anyways.

It's the same thing for every "big event": Opening Day, Oktoberfest, Taste, now the ASG. The Enq. freaks out about people not being able to park and roll 10 feet to where they want to go. Plus they act like something like this has never happened before. I'm for giving Cincinnatians the benefit of the doubt that we know what the hell we're doing. We've been around for a while, and can be expected to act like grown ups.

It's the same thing for every "big event": Opening Day, Oktoberfest, Taste, now the ASG. The Enq. freaks out about people not being able to park and roll 10 feet to where they want to go. Plus they act like something like this has never happened before. I'm for giving Cincinnatians the benefit of the doubt that we know what the hell we're doing. We've been around for a while, and can be expected to act like grown ups.

 

A Reds sellout is a lot smaller event than a typical Bengals game.  The 15,000-20,000 more people at the football games causes the road network to be overloaded for a much longer period of time.  There is total gridlock after every Bengals game on 2nd and 3rd St., and on 4th St. west of Main for upwards of an hour after every Bengals game.  Meanwhile it only briefly locks up after sellout Reds games. 

 

Also, a big cause of the gridlock is the unfinished I-75 N ramp from 3rd St.  All 75 N traffic must get to 4th St., then sit for another 20 minutes waiting to get on that ramp.  This traffic backs up onto 3rd, then causes all of the north/south connections between 2nd and 3rd to gridlock. 

 

The Enquirer doesn't know this even though the whole situation is visible from their building. 

It's a little ridiculous how much everyone (very much including the Enquirer) is freaking out about the ASG. It makes Cincinnati seem very minor league, IMO. And to think we submitted a bid for the Olympics not too long ago! God forbid those had been awarded to us- we probably would have had a collective melt down! Come on Cincinnati; if you want the rest of the country to respect you as a major city then it's time to start acting like one.

Beyond idiotic articles in the Enquirer, who is freaking out? We recently held the World Choir Games which drew 3-4 times as many people as the ASG will and handled it just fine without incident. Nobody is actually freaking out, the Enquirer is trying to stir up controversy where there is none in its typical fashion.